Rising Role Model
HCC alumna and staffer Julissa Colón '13 named to list of '40 Under Forty'
Julissa Colón, special progams coordinator for HCC's Gateway to College program, was named one of the "40 Under Forty" by Business West magazine for 2021.
The annual awards recognize young, promising community leaders from Western Massachusetts.
"This is a tremendous class of young leaders, one that speaks volumes about our region," Business West editor George O'Brien wrote in his introduction to his year's honorees. "Indeed, Western Mass. is diverse and its business communty is also diverse, with a strong mix of ventures across all sectors, from technology to healthcare; hospitality to agriculture. ... The class of 2020 reflects all this. It refelcts something else, as well – the willingness of these young leaders to step forward, serve their community, and address the many issues confronting our region, inluding homelessness, poverty, illiteracy, access to healthcare, and more."
The class of 2021 will be celebrated on Thursday, Sept. 23 at the annual 40 Under Forty Gala at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke.
Below is the "40 Under Forty" profile of Julissa that appears in the May 12 edition of Business West:
O'Brien also interviewed Julissa for his May 17 Business Talk podcast
By GEORGE O"BRIEN
Editor, Business West
Julissa Colón can certainly relate to those individuals she assists through the Holyoke Community College (HCC) Gateway to College program.
Indeed, when she was 19, she left college when she had her first child. She thought the opportunity to earn a college degree had passed her by.
She was wrong, of course. She now has an associate degree from HCC and a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies from Smith College, with a minor in history. What she needed to earn those diplomas was some encouragement and a path forward – and that's exactly what she helps provide to others who have left traditional education.
"These are students who have already left high school or are on the verge of leaving," Colón said. "They don't leave because they're not smart, they don't leave because they're not capable; they leave because of life. Some of them have had to go to work; some of them have stayed back so many times they feel too old to be in traditional school; some are homeless; some have had children, or they're ill, or their parents are ill."
"What they all have in common, though, is that they don't want to give up – they do want their high-school diploma, they do want to be successful, they do have dreams," she went on, adding that Gateway exists to build a unique pathway to success for each student.
Colón joined Gateway a decade ago and has been instrumental in transforming the program, according to Vivian Ostrowski, the program's director, who nominated her for this award. She said Colón is also a big reason why the program now enjoys an 83% graduation rate for those who left traditional school.
While rising in the ranks from clerk to office manager to Special Programs coordinator, she has drawn on her own experiences, and also her mother's (she came to Holyoke from Puerto Rico) to help her understand and appreciate her students' experiences, and also to help guide them and keep their dreams alive.
She said students often ask her to describe her role, and her answer is usually something like this:
"I'm like your high-school guidance counselor and your college advisor and your auntie and a social worker – I'm all those things wrapped into one."
She's something else as well: a tremendous role model.
STORY and PHOTO, courtesy of Business West magazine
